Red tide florida map now9/22/2023 One Sarasota-based study estimated that the cost for these increased ER visits ranged from $500,000 to $4 million, depending on a bloom’s severity and duration. Red tides are especially harmful to asthmatics and people with other chronic respiratory diseases, and these groups are more likely to need emergency medical attention during blooms. When these species multiply, creating harmful algal blooms (HABs), they can wreak havoc on human and marine animal health, contaminate seafood and devastate local economies. While most species of algae are harmless to humans and animals, some - like the Karenia brevis organism that causes red tides in the Gulf of Mexico - are toxic. Red tides typically form in August and continue through the winter, with October and November being the months most frequently impacted.Blooms most frequently occur between Sanibel Island and Tampa Bay between September and January.Sampling efforts before 1995 aren’t sufficient to allow for the comparison of bloom intensity.had almost no respiratory impacts because of more frequent than usual offshore winds. Years with severe blooms - 2006, 20 - caused noticeable respiratory irritation, while other years with blooms (2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014). Wind direction matters for the amount of respiratory irritation. More frequent-than-usual offshore winds can suppress the respiratory impact of blooms.That year, the Respiratory Irritation Index in Manatee and Sarasota counties was also the highest on record. 2018 had the most extensive red tide along the Southwest Florida coast.There was a red tide bloom somewhere on the Southwest Florida coast each year between 19, except for 2010.In developing the indexes, the study’s authors also found: These indexes now offer a standardized and objective way to gauge how severe red tides are, which should help decision makers better evaluate the risks of red tides as blooms occur and respond in ways that lessen bloom impacts on public health and local economies. The authors also looked at respiratory irritation reports between 20 and used that information to develop a Respiratory Irritation Index. But comparing the severity of blooms from year-to-year has been difficult because there has been no standardized way to gauge individual blooms or their impacts.Īuthors of a new paper recently published in the peer-review journal PLOS One looked at red tides along Florida’s west coast between 19 and used cell counts of the organism that causes red tide in the Gulf of Mexico - Karenia brevis - to develop a Bloom Severity Index. Red tides occur near annually on Florida’s west coast and can lead to significant health and economic impacts in the affected communities.
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